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Official Code of Georgia Annotated

Title 42. PENAL INSTITUTIONS · Chapter 9. PARDONS AND PAROLES · Article 2. GRANTS OF PARDONS, PAROLES, AND OTHER RELIEF

42-9-53. Preservation of documents; classification of information and documents; divulgence of confidential state secrets; conduct of hearings.

Active

Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

  1. (a)

    Subject to other laws, the board shall preserve on file all documents on which it has acted in the granting of pardons, paroles, conditional releases, and other relief.#

  2. (b)
    1. (1)

      All information, both oral and written, received by the members of the board in the performance of their duties under this chapter and all reports, files, records, and information coming into their possession by reason of the performance of their duties under this chapter shall be classified as confidential state secrets until declassified by the board; provided, however, that the board shall be authorized:#

      1. (A)

        To disclose to an alleged violator of parole or conditional release the evidence introduced against him or her at a final hearing on the matter of revocation of parole or conditional release; and#

      2. (B)

        To disclose information as provided in Code Section 42-9-61.#

    2. (2)

      The department may make supervision records of the department available to officials employed with the Department of Corrections and the Sexual Offender Risk Review Board, and to the sexual offender as set forth in Code Section 42-1-14, provided that the same shall remain confidential and not available to any other person or subject to subpoena unless declassified by the commissioner of community supervision.#

  3. (c)

    No person shall divulge or cause to be divulged in any manner any confidential state secret. Any person violating this Code section or any person who causes or procures a violation of this Code section or conspires to violate this Code section shall, upon conviction, be guilty of a misdemeanor.#

  4. (d)

    All hearings required to be held by this chapter shall be public, and the transcript thereof shall be exempt from subsection (b) of this Code section. All records and documents which were public records at the time they were received by the board shall be exempt from subsection (b) of this Code section. All information, reports, and documents required by law to be made available to the General Assembly, the Governor, or the state auditor shall be exempt from subsection (b) of this Code section.#

The notes below are printed with the section but are not enacted law (O.C.G.A. § 1-1-1(c)). They are shown apart from the text.

History

Ga. L. 1943, p. 185, § 20; Ga. L. 1953, Nov.-Dec. Sess., p. 210, § 1; Ga. L. 1975, p. 786, § 4; Ga. L. 1982, p. 3, § 42; Ga. L. 2011, p. 620, § 2/SB 214; Ga. L. 2013, p. 1056, § 2/HB 122; Ga. L. 2015, p. 207, § 7/HB 71; Ga. L. 2015, p. 422, § 5-89/HB 310; Ga. L. 2017, p. 585, § 2-15/SB 174; Ga. L. 2023, p. 637, § 6-6/HB 188, effective May 4, 2023. The 2023 amendment, effective May 4, 2023, substituted “Sexual Offender Risk Review Board, and to the sexual offender as set forth in Code 42-1-14, provided” for “Sexual Offender Registration Review Board, provided” in the middle of paragraph (b)(2).

Editor's notes

Ga. L. 2015, p. 422, § 6-1/HB 310, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that: “This Act shall become effective July 1, 2015, and shall apply to sentences entered on or after such date.” Ga. L. 2023, p. 637, § 1-1/HB 188, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: “This Act shall be known and may be cited as ‘Mariam’s Law.’” Ga. L. 2023, p. 637, § 7-1/HB 188, not codified by the General Assembly, provides, in part, that “the punishment provisions of this Act shall apply to all offenses committed on and after July 1, 2023.”

Code Commission notes

Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 2015, the amendment of subsection (b) of this Code section by Ga. L. 2015, p. 207, § 7/HB 71, was treated as impliedly repealed and superseded by Ga. L. 2015, p. 422, § 5-89/HB 310, due to irreconcilable conflict. Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 2023, “Section” was inserted following “Code” in the middle of paragraph (b)(2).

Cross references

Management of records of state entities generally, § 50-18-90 et seq.

Administrative rules and regulations

Risk Assessment and Classification, Official Compilation of the Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia, Rules of Sexual Offender Registration Review Board, Sexual Offender Registration Review Board, Rule 594-1-.04.

Law reviews

For annual survey of death penalty law, see 56 Mercer L. Rev. 197 (2004). For article on the 2015 amendment of this Code section, see 32 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 231 (2015). For article on the 2017 amendment of this Code section, see 34 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 115 (2017).

Read the official page (the state's PDF, opened at the page this text was read from).

Current through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly.

Text read from t41-t42-(v29a)-2023-pdf.pdf, Volume V29A, 2023 edition, pages 623 to 624; merge action: carried; file SHA-256 1e701a9ff15b.